The moment after the Nuggets beat the Washington Wizards on Monday night at the Pepsi Center, Reggie Evans' silent statement said it all.

Minutes before, he had sent equipment man Sparky Gonzalez into the locker room to gather the jerseys of suspended stars Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith. When the final buzzer sounded to signal the Nuggets' 117-108 victory, Evans slipped on Anthony's jersey and held Smith's aloft.

"I was representing my boy Melo and J.R.," Evans said. "I'm just letting the fans know that I'm trying to put a little positive twist to this instead of so much negative. I just let them know that 'We love y'all, you're still here with us.' I let the fans know that they are still our teammates, our family."

From a frenetic beginning, to the Nuggets' near collapse in the fourth quarter, to an emotional ending, this was not your typical NBA regular-season game. Nuggets coach George Karl admitted his pregame talk was "pretty animated," and the Nuggets burned rubber out of the gate, getting into fifth gear in a hurry.

Displaying the playoff-like intensity Karl insists the Nuggets must generate while playing without Anthony and Smith, the Nuggets shot 54.3 percent in the first half and appeared to be on cruise control with a 65-43 lead.

But Denver cooled considerably in the second half, and without Anthony's instant offense, it nearly blew the game. When Gilbert Arenas stole the ball and converted a layup with 5:35 left in the game, a Denver lead that peaked at 25 points in the first half had shrunk to 93-91.

But thanks to the heroics of guards Earl Boykins and Andre Miller and center Marcus Camby, the Nuggets hung on. Boykins scored 19 in the second half to finish with a season-high 29. Miller set the early tempo, scoring 20 in the first half on 9-of-15 shooting. He finished with 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Camby added a season-high 25 points and 17 rebounds.

"They have the most dangerous bench in the league because they are so aggressive," said Arenas, who followed up his 60-point game against the Lakers on Sunday night with 23. "They push their tempo. They want to run....It gives Earl Boykins more freedom. It gives Camby more looks. It lets Andre do what he does best, probe and dish. When you have him just dropping the ball to Melo all day, his assists are not going to go up. It's basically a lost cause."

Camby played one of his best games of the season.

He knew the key was for the Nuggets to jump on the Wizards early.

"A lot of people probably thought we were going to fall flat when you're missing a key component like Carmelo Anthony," Camby said. "The Wizards probably came in here thinking they were going to get a win."

Replacing Anthony in the starting lineup was forward Linas Kleiza. He scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds in 31 minutes of playing time. Yakhouba Diawara, starting at guard in place of Smith, scored eight points in 40 minutes.

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.

PARIS (AP) — Bye, New York! Ciao, Milan! Bonjour, Paris! The world's largest traveling circus of fashion editors, models, buyers and journalists has descended on the French capital, clutching their metro maps and city guides, to cap the ready-to-wear fashion season. Full Story